“…One explanation, the climate-linked epidemic hypothesis, has received increased attention in recent years (Pounds and Crump, 1994;Pounds et al, 1999;Kiesecker et al, 2001;Pounds, 2001;Harvell et al, 2002;Ron et al, 2003;Pounds and Puschendorf, 2004;Lampo et al, 2006;Pounds et al, 2006;Santiago-Paredes and La Marca, 2006;Alford et al, 2007;Bosch et al, 2007;Di Rosa et al, 2007;Pounds et al, 2007;Laurance, 2008;Lips et al, 2008). Although it is increasingly clear that various climate anomalies can alter the dynamics of host-pathogen systems (Harvell et al, 2002;Pounds et al, 2007), I suggest caution before accepting the hypothesis that prolonged or intensified dry seasons trigger or exacerbate epidemics of chytridiomycosis, a scenario hypothesized by several authors (Pounds et al, 1999;Ron et al, 2003;Burrowes et al, 2004;Pounds and Puschendorf, 2004;Lampo et al, 2006;Santiago-Paredes and La Marca, 2006), but for which no empirical data exist. To distinguish this hypothesis from other climate-linked epidemic hypotheses, I will hereafter refer to it as the drought-linked chytridiomycosis hypothesis.…”